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Wednesday, 14 January 2015

(vol 2) CHAPTER 01: “I have a drawer!”

2015 WORD COUNT = 1410
words

A couple of my posts last year may have mentioned things that
would seem mundane to the non-authors of the world. In them was talk of my
excitement when purchasing ring binders and notepads as well as that momentous
occasion when I finally got a dining room table (aka ‘my writing space’) put
together in my new home.

As I begin this year with a fresh bundle of excitement
towards writing I can now announce that . . . I have a drawer.

Let me explain.

I have shelves and boxes full of notebooks and folders in
various rooms, all containing projects I’m currently working on or, worse, those
poor stories that have fallen by the wayside.

Last year was a good start to my big push towards publication
but this year I want to step it up. There are many things I can and will be
doing but the most important is Focus.

To this end I have set aside one of the three drawers in my
little IKEA bedside unit that now contains the most important things I need
this year.

CONTENTS

Ideas can come at any time. The worst thing to happen to a
writer is to be struck by an idea but lose it before it is ever written down.
In case an idea strikes in the middle I have a specific little notebook and pen
that are just for writing down ideas, whether they sound good at the time or
not. Better to write things down and not need them then to beat yourself up
over the one that got away.

When I started this blog I grabbed a 2GB memory stick that I
never used and decided to keep everything on it. I have double backups (laptop
and separate hard drive) but this little thumb drive is the main storage now
for stories, blog posts, covers, spreadsheets, NaNoWriMo certificates and so
on.

I also have a nice Moleskine notebook (Christmas present) which
is being used for a secret project as well as a fully stocked pencil box and a
couple of other little notebooks.

COUNTING

It’s a couple of weeks into the year and things are going
alright. You may have noticed the word count at the top of the blog. I know 1400
words in two weeks looks crap but this only shows ‘published’ or completed
work. So, although I’m working on the first episode of FALLEN SWORDS it won’t count until it’s posted on the blog. And my
zombie short HUMBUG is still in its
first draft so I won’t count those words until I press the ‘send’ button before
the competition deadline.

Hopefully, as various projects and plans come together
through 2015, and as I get more confident and focused (there’s that word
again), the word count will increase at a more satisfying rate. Obviously my
main target is to beat last years (100753) but secretly I want to smash it.

FLASH FICTION NEWS

Another week at Angry Hourglass and another successful entry. This weekend’s SEEING THINGS got a Special Mention from judge Voima Oy who
likened it to an opening scene from an X-Files episode. I also received several
comments from readers regarding my dialogue, something that’s been mentioned
over several of my stories recently. I used to struggle with dialogue so I’m
quite happy that my peers have started picking this out as a strength in my
writing.

(On a side note, my Winner page went up at
Angry Hourglass. I have a winner’s page. Big smiles. Check it out.)

I also had a small piece put up on Paragraph Planet, a website that has published a 75 word piece of writing
every day since 2008. I only did it on a whim after fellow FlashDog Avalina Kreska tweeted about her own piece being selected. With a New Year
gathering to organise and the dreaded ‘going back to work’, I’d completely forgotten
I’d even submitted so it was a nice surprise and kept me on a high after the
previous week’s Flash Fiction win.

Of course the best piece of news this weekend was related to
my main highlight from last year; The FlashDogs Anthology. Not content with
having the anthology available for people to download all across the world, the
collection of 110 Flash Fiction gems is now available to purchase in paperback.
That’s right, if you head over to Amazon now and deposit the sum of £7.99, you will soon be able
to hold the World’s Greatest Flash Fiction Anthology™ in your very own hands.
And you can sniff it.

I have three copies on
the way that have just arrived; one for me to show off to people, one for
my son (when he’s older) and one for my mother who let me sit in my bedroom and
write crazy stories throughout most of my childhood. Here’s a proper book, mum.

MENTION

Before I sign off I would just like to give a big thanks to
my wife.

Week in and week out she puts up with the constant
verbalisation of my mind as ideas are chucked around the house during all hours
of the day. She nods, she smiles and most importantly, she helps.

Since I started this endeavour last year she has somehow
found time between raising our son, looking after me (it’s been said I’m hard
work) and working on the house to read through my stories and my blog posts, to
suggest things and correct things, and to encourage me when I’ve needed it
most. She lets me write when it’s sometimes not convenient and she lets me moan
when things go south.

She is a legend, she is a star and I don’t know what I’d do
without her.

CONCLUSION

So that’s that. A brief roundup of the week. I hope to get
into more technical posts as the work starts emerging into the real world.
Until then you should take a look at some off the sites I’ve mentioned and see
if your creative juices produce anything worth entering. You can’t win unless
you write.